Be Street Smart in India with tips from Travel India Smart!

Hotels: Always make prior reservations when traveling to different cities in India. This way you will be assured a proper room of your choice. Not having reservations you will end up paying a lot more for whatever room they may claim to be available. Hotel clerks can sense desperation and most likely will take advantage of a traveler’s desperation and charge them as much as they can.Do yourself a favor, make a reservation. In this time and age of superfast communication, the Internet, phones etc. there is no reason not to make a prior reservation.Tran Travel: On many trains you can’t travel without a reservation anyway. Foreign tourists are given priority treatment. They can even get train reservations to travel the same day! A dream for millions of Indian citizens who have to reserve train tickets months in advance. When making train reservations, take note of the train numbers and not just the train name. This is important when trying to make reservations for trains. Trains with the same name travel to different cities and directions. So train number is more important.Money: Credit cards for most common things are not used in India. You can’t expect to pay by credit card everywhere and cash is a necessity in India. Play it smart, do not pull out large amounts of cash when paying petty bills. Keep separate amount cash in small bills to deal in situations where only a few Rupees are needed. Carrying small denomination of Indian currency will save you a lot of aggravation and may even help keep you safe! Keeping a low profile and not flashing wads of currency bills is always recommended, regardless of which country you are touring.Beggars carrying babies: Please don’t tip beggars who are carrying small children. Tell them sternly that you will not tip them because they are carrying the baby. These beggars carry small babies in shifts as a result of which, the infant suffers in the hot sun all day! While these beggars take turns carrying the baby. Quite often such babies are rented and used all day regardless of severe weather conditions. Please do not give them anything except a piece of your mind. Jewelry: Don’t flash that diamond ring on your finger! Sometimes you may be better off turning the diamond side around to avoid being too conspicuous. Local Indians these days have also stopped wearing real jewelry in public places, due to many instances of grab and run thefts of jewelry.Taxi/Auto Rickshaw: While there are the hones t ones they are in a minority. While they usually know that a foreigner would not know the way to their destination and take the longer route, they even cheat local Indians. The method they use is by asking the passenger as they start moving, which way should I go! This has happened to me a few times. In such cases, I normally get off as soon as I see a location where other transportation is available. If you find you have been taken for a ride, simply wait till you see a policeman and ask the driver to stop there.India is NOT a dangerous place: Despite the odd case that attract media attention. There is not much to be scared about touring India. There is never a replacement for common sense. Regardless of where you are traveling in the world or what someone says or does, always use common sense and act accordingly.

Be Street Smart in India with tips from Travel India Smart!Hotels: Always make prior reservations when traveling to different cities in India. This way you will be assured a proper room of your choice. Not having reservations you will end up paying a lot more for whatever room they may claim to be available. Hotel clerks can sense desperation and most likely will take advantage of a traveler’s desperation and charge them as much as they can.Do yourself a favor, make a reservation. In this time and age of superfast communication, the Internet, phones etc. there is no reason not to make a prior reservation.Tran Travel: On many trains you can’t travel without a reservation anyway. Foreign tourists are given priority treatment. They can even get train reservations to travel the same day! A dream for millions of Indian citizens who have to reserve train tickets months in advance. When making train reservations, take note of the train numbers and not just the train name. This is important when trying to make reservations for trains. Trains with the same name travel to different cities and directions. So train number is more important.Money: Credit cards for most common things are not used in India. You can’t expect to pay by credit card everywhere and cash is a necessity in India. Play it smart, do not pull out large amounts of cash when paying petty bills. Keep separate amount cash in small bills to deal in situations where only a few Rupees are needed. Carrying small denomination of Indian currency will save you a lot of aggravation and may even help keep you safe! Keeping a low profile and not flashing wads of currency bills is always recommended, regardless of which country you are touring.Beggars carrying babies: Please don’t tip beggars who are carrying small children. Tell them sternly that you will not tip them because they are carrying the baby. These beggars carry small babies in shifts as a result of which, the infant suffers in the hot sun all day! While these beggars take turns carrying the baby. Quite often such babies are rented and used all day regardless of severe weather conditions. Please do not give them anything except a piece of your mind. Jewelry: Don’t flash that diamond ring on your finger! Sometimes you may be better off turning the diamond side around to avoid being too conspicuous. Local Indians these days have also stopped wearing real jewelry in public places, due to many instances of grab and run thefts of jewelry.Taxi/Auto Rickshaw: While there are the hones t ones they are in a minority. While they usually know that a foreigner would not know the way to their destination and take the longer route, they even cheat local Indians. The method they use is by asking the passenger as they start moving, which way should I go! This has happened to me a few times. In such cases, I normally get off as soon as I see a location where other transportation is available. If you find you have been taken for a ride, simply wait till you see a policeman and ask the driver to stop there.India is NOT a dangerous place: Despite the odd case that attract media attention. There is not much to be scared about touring India. There is never a replacement for common sense. Regardless of where you are traveling in the world or what someone says or does, always use common sense and act accordingly.